Reina plucked the elixir of strength from her belt and was about to drink it until someone grabbed her wrist, dragging her out of the hiding spot.

"Oopsie, there! Wouldn't want you chugging anything to screw us over," a familiar man's voice said. She glanced over her shoulder to see the bald human who had come by the atelier earlier in the day.

"Who'd ya catch over there?" someone from the camp asked. Others who were alerted to the commotion rose from their seats to investigate.

Without wasting another moment, Reina grabbed a slumber vial with her free hand, took a deep breath, and crushed it in her hand. The broken shards bit into her fingers and palm, but the pain was nothing compared to what might happen if she was captured.

The man behind her lost his grip as he fell unconscious to the ground. Reina raised the elixir to her lips, but an arrow zipped past her and shattered the vial. Only the lip of the glass remained between her finger and thumb.

"Give me a break!" she muttered.

"It's her! The alchemist elf!"

"Careful with this one. We don't know what she's capable of."

Reina leapt back to the tree and kept her back pressed to the trunk. She drank a restoration potion to heal her hand wound, then searched for the last remaining slumber vial. Six men remained. It would be nice if they were clustered together, but these humans had to have martial training. They slowly fanned out and made a wide berth in the encirclement.

A fight would surely end in her defeat. Even if she could free the captives, the ensuing brawl couldn't go well. They had nothing to defend themselves with and some looked too weak to stand. Running away was not an option either with a crossbow trained on her.

These were not good odds.

Reina took her chances with a gamble and let drop the slumber vial to the ground, then walked out with her hands in the air. Two crossbows were aimed right at her, and four others with swords held their weapons close.

"I surrender. There's no way I can take you guys out," she said, shifting the vial underneath her foot.

They hesitated to come any closer, no doubt fearing that it might be a trap.

"Gaius, Munk, Joseph. Take her belt off and put her in chains," the scarred man ordered.

It became more apparent that they were after her. The precautions they took were too precise otherwise.

One of the three whistled as he walked up to her and brushed a finger through her hair. All of them smelled of alcohol.

"Ain't you a pretty lass," he said.

As soon as the three came close, she held her breath and stomped on the vial. The fumes took effect immediately, and they fell unconscious soon after. She grabbed the lightest of them and put a knife to his throat.

"She's got Munk!" 

"Come any closer and his blood is fertilizing the forest," she threatened, slowly dragging the unconscious man to the closest cage.

"Tell you what," the scarred man began. "We'll let them all go, but you stay."

"It's usually the ones on the losing side that tries to make a bargain." While Reina humored the conversation, she fished out the unconscious man's key, tossing both it and several potions into the cage.

In seconds, the nine captives inside made a break for it. Some of them lingered behind, unsure if they should help.

"Go! Head for Vessyra and tell High Priestess Gale!" she shouted, making the decision for them.

They didn't need any more urging and ran into the darkness of the forest. One more cage left. She grabbed the key from the lock and slowly made her way to the next cage.

"That bitch is making off with our gold! Put a bolt in Munk and let's get her!" an impatient slaver exclaimed, only to have the bigger man to hold him back.

The humans hadn't attacked her yet despite all the gold slipping through their fingers. Why? Were they actually afraid? Maybe she should have asked the others to stay to fend them off.

However, when she opened the cage, everyone ran out except for one. It was the dark-skinned elven woman who was being hit on earlier.

"What are you waiting for? Hurry and go," she urged the last woman while keeping an eye on the three aggressors.

Something felt off.

This was far too easy.

Reina glanced back to check on the elf just as a club struck her head.

It was warm, not quite humid like Reina was used to. The right side of her head pounded something fierce. When she opened her eyes, the blinding sunlight forced her lids shut.

Sunlight? Reina wondered to herself.

Her eyes snapped open. Between the metal bars she saw rolling green pastures and a clear blue sky with sparse clouds. The moment she sat up, all the blood rushed to her head and made her dizzy.

"Lay still. You were hit pretty hard," a kind yet beaten voice of a feline beastborne said.

She wasn't alone. Several of the captives she had released were back in the cages, although much less than before. Four women including herself were the unlucky ones.

The alchemy belt she wore was gone. Shackles bound her ankles to an anchor at the center of the cage along with the other women. The seven slave traffickers were on horses that pulled the wagons across whatever countryside they were trekking through.

From what she remembered, someone had hit her. Who? All of the humans were within her sights.

"What happened?" Reina asked, rubbing her head.

"One among us wasn't who she said she was," the beastborne replied.

Riding up to the side of the wagon in a mount of her own was the dark-skinned elf. Then it clicked in Reina's mind what had happened.

"It was you? The high priestesses of Vessyra and Witch's Academy won't look kindly on slavers!" Reina snarled, clenching her fingers on the iron bars.

"Where we're going, there's nothing they can do about it," the elf remarked coldly.

"Where?" she demanded.

"Quit squabbling with her, Kris. Don't want her giving you any reason to betray us," the scarred man said, slowing down his horse to put himself between the cage and the elf named Kris.

"I would never betray the queen…" she mumbled, riding ahead to the front.

The scarred man watched Kris leave, then threw Reina a stink-eye. She could do nothing but glare back in defiance. He appeared to be the leader of this slaver crew, but might be too level-headed to try and trick.

"How's it feel leaving with a lighter purse?" Reina taunted, but her attempts to unnerve him fell on deaf ears.

"Lighter? I'll need five wagons to carry all the gold the queen will give me for you, Ms. Reina Highbranch. Once I get my money, I'm finding a nice brothel to live in for the rest of my life!" He bellowed with unrestrained laughter.

They truly were after her all along, and the bald man was just staking out her place.

Wherever they were headed took another several days of eating moist bread, pissing and shitting under supervision, and being gawked at like an exotic treasure. Kris mostly kept to herself away from the humans, and it became clear that her affiliation with them went as far as some contractual partnership.

The slavers knew how and where to traverse. They stayed off the main road, taking remote paths to reach their destination and avoiding farmlands in case of being spotted. It was obvious they were experienced slave traffickers.

On the morning of the fourth day, they arrived at what looked to be an extravagant villa deep in the hills, far away from the lower strata of civilization. Soldiers decorated in armor more for show than practical use opened the wrought iron gates for them to enter.

The courtyard leading up to the manor was laid with smooth stones being swept by goblin servants. Orc landscapers tended to the colorful garden of flowerbeds and trees that framed the building. All of them were watched intently by human guards.

Nothing was more impressive than the imposing, three-story mansion with pointed rooftops and a balcony terrace that loomed over Reina. She somehow felt smaller in comparison than when looking at the central tree in Vessyra.

A well-dressed older human emerged from the door and descended the steps. He was flanked by a number of guards. The wagons stopped in front of a fountain spewing water from the statue of a human woman's clasped hands.

Reina and the other women were let out of the cages. The slavers paraded them with inexplicable joy.

"This one right here is the alchemist your queen is looking for." The scarred man shoved her forward. "When are we getting our reward?"

"She's the one, Roland." Kris nodded to the old man.

"We will retrieve your bounty posthaste. The queen has tasked me to provide you lodging and hospitality in her absence. Shall I arrange for a meal and refreshments?" Roland asked, adjusting the monocle on his right eye.

"Nah. We'll be taking our gold and leaving. Can't wait to brag to the other boys about the haul Queen Lisette gave us." The scarred man grinned.

The atmosphere thickened. Roland, Kris, and the manor guards tensed up like someone had insulted a god to their face.

"On second thought," Kris began, hailing for the other guards to close in. "Strip them of their belongings and dispose of them until there's nothing left to bury."

A large number of guards moved in quickly to apprehend the slavers. They didn't so much as have time to struggle before they were disarmed and pinned to the ground.

"W-What are you doing?! We had a deal!" the leader of the slavers shouted.

Roland bowed to the scarred man who was thrown to the polished stone by two guards. "You have done a great service by bringing the elven alchemist here. However, the queen doesn't forgive loose lips. My apologies."

"I used to be a commander in the Juna army. I have friends in high places who will know I'm gone!" he screamed as the crew of slavers were dragged away from the manor.

Kris unlocked Reina's shackles and chains, letting them clatter to the ground. She was given back her alchemy belt that was now empty of any potions or elixirs.

"My offer was actually meant for you, Ms. Reina. Please, right this way." The human servant beckoned for her to follow into the manor.

Before heading in, Reina turned back in the direction she had come and wondered what Neeks was up to. It was looking like she might be stuck here for quite some time.